Nothing About The Hyundai Inster Should Impress You. But It Does

When you look at the Hyundai Inster with its tall greenhouse and quirky details, it almost looks like a Pixar extra wandered off the set of Cars. All it needs is a pair of huge eyes on the windshield. What its unusual look doesn’t betray, though, is how good a car it is, and how, when you drive it, the on-paper specs fade in importance.

I drove the Inster from Austria into Switzerland, covering 336 miles (541 km) in one day during the Eurocharge 2025 EV road trip a few weeks back. It had the lowest range and least power out of the eight cars we tested, so I thought it would struggle on the twisty mountain passes and the higher-speed driving sections that made up 35% of the day’s driving.

However, I couldn’t believe how much fun it was to throw around the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse in Austria, which is probably the best road I’ve ever driven on, with one of the most dramatic mountain backdrops that I’ve ever seen. The little Inster wasn’t built to carve corners, yet I actually found myself grinning behind the wheel. This is a happy little car, and not just because of its appearance.

It also doesn’t charge particularly quickly by today’s standards, but it always had a great charging curve, staying close to its maximum power even after 80% state of charge. I thought the Inster with its small battery and relatively slow charging would hold us back, but it never fell behind, and it performed admirably in the company of larger EVs with much bigger batteries.

EV Range 229 miles WLTP

As-Tested Price €25,585 ($29,600)

Base Price €21,538 ($25,120)

Battery 49 kWh

Drive Type FWD

Output 114 hp

Maximum torque 108 lb-ft

Speed 0-62 MPH 10.6 seconds

Maximum speed 93 mph

Charge Time 10%-80% 30 min

Charge Type CCS @ 85 kW

Pixar Punk

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

Let’s go back to the way the Inster looks for a second. Like many cars these days, it features a two-tier front fascia, with daytime running lights above headlights that are hidden when off. But the Inster has an additional set of circular DRLs that surround the headlight projectors, giving away rather than hiding their position.

This doesn’t look like any other Hyundai model, and its face successfully blends cuteness with subtle aggression. I also liked its blistered wheel arches that are especially visible on cars finished in light colors like our tester’s Buttercream Yellow, which had a subtle pearl effect. You can even spec it in matte silver, which should also help accentuate its shapes.

The rear lights match the shape of the circular front DRLs, but there’s also a light bar above with a pixel motif, which can be paired with a matching sticker pack that our tester didn’t have. I got to see a lot of the Inster from behind during the tour, and—though there seems to be a lot going on—it’s not overwrought. The Inster’s design works as a cohesive overall visual package.

Lunchbox S-Class  

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

It’s pretty funky inside, too, especially if you opt for the lighter-colored interior that pairs a color very similar to the exterior with a very suitable shade of brown that makes it look a bit fancy. Start prodding around and you won’t find any soft plastics anywhere, but considering the price point, that’s perfectly fine.

The driving position is quite good for a car in this class, with plenty of reach and rake adjustment for the steering wheel and a seat that instantly felt comfortable. Shoulder room was sometimes a bit tight with just two people in the front, but a faux bench seat is meant to make the cabin feel more cozy. It succeeded.

Space in the second row is surprisingly ample. Sliding the two individual rear seats frees up extra knee room, so tall adults have no problem getting comfy in the back. The height of the cabin further enhances the feeling of space, and riding in the back of one of these makes you wonder where the space goes in so many other bigger cars.

You can also pretend like you’re in a mini-Mercedes S-Class. Flatten the front passenger seat backrest, slide the corresponding seat as far back as it will go and you can stretch your legs over into the front like you would in a limo.

Specs Aren’t Everything

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

You can get the Inster with two battery options. The base car has a 42-kilowatt-hour battery, but my tester had the larger 49-kWh Long Range pack with a claimed WLTP range of 229 miles (370 km). If you avoid sustained high-speed highway driving, you can get close to matching the WLTP number.

On one day during the Eurocharge trip with no highway driving, it outdid its brochure numbers with efficiency of over 5.1 miles/kWh (12.2 kWh/100 km). On another day, the Inster drove mostly on highways mostly at a constant 80 mph (130 km/h), and the electricity consumption shot up to 2.9 miles/kWh (21.3 kWh/100 km), which means a full charge would last about 134 miles (216 km).

It can therefore be very efficient, but sustained high-speed driving will take its toll on the range. There’s a reason Hyundai isn’t selling this in America. That being said, it is more than capable of cruising at highway speeds, and traveling hundreds of miles in it in a single day doesn’t feel like torture. Oh, how far small cars have come…

The base model with the smaller battery gets a 95 hp motor driving the front wheels for a 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time of 11.1 seconds. My tester’s more powerful 113 hp motor shaves one second off that time. While its 108 lb-ft (147 Nm) of torque may not sound like much (because it isn’t), it makes surprisingly light work of the car’s 2,943-pound (1,335 kg) mass.

Charging Power Is Secondary. The Curve Matters

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

With a peak DC fast charging power rating of 85 kW and a 10% to 80% charging time of 30 minutes, the Inster doesn’t sound very impressive. But the little Hyundai plays the long game with a great charging curve that keeps the charging speed high even after 80%.

You do need a 120 kW charger to get the most out of it, as per the manufacturer’s recommendation, but it’s not bad at all. During one charging stop in Austria, when the car had 36% left in its battery, we hooked it up to a 320 kW charger, and it charged up to 79% in exactly 20 minutes.

During this charging session, the car started charging at 30 kW, but then it shot up to 80 kW and by the time it had reached 70%, it was still pulling 71 kW from the station. So what it lacks in outright peak charging power, it makes up for with its excellent charging curve. At another charging stop, this time at a 200 kW station in Hungary, the car started with 12% and it took 48 minutes to charge up to 93%.

We also charged the car overnight at all the hotels where we stayed during the trip and the car’s onboard 11 kW charger had no problem charging to 100% by morning. Hyundai says this should bring the battery from flat to full in 4 hours and 35 minutes.

Mini Grand Tourer

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

At one point during my Inster drive, I found myself descending on the southern side of the Grossglockner mountain pass in the Austrian Alps, thinking about efficiency. The car’s electricity consumption had massively increased while climbing to the summit, which is at over 8,200 feet (2,500 meters). I hadn’t really tried to explore the handling limits of the tiny Hyundai since it didn’t feel like that kind of car, and I wasn’t planning on doing it.

But somewhere halfway down the Grossglockner, I realized the car was more than happy to pretend it’s some sort of hot hatchback and not a tall and quirky-looking city car. You can tip it into a corner, and it will chirp the tires with excitement. It’s not afraid. It feels like it wants and can take more.

Driving it, you realize someone in Hyundai’s chassis department needs a raise, and there’s room for a sporty N variant. With surprisingly connected-feeling steering, a short wheelbase and a low center of gravity from the battery pack in its floor, it was unexpectedly good through the corners.

Photo by: Ciprian Mihai/Autocritica

If you’ve ever heard somebody try to explain why driving a momentum car is fun, maybe more fun in some cases than a purpose-built, high-horsepower sports car, the Inster embodies that and helps you corner quicker than you should. With almost no side bolstering in the seat, you brace yourself against the B-pillar for a swift right-hand corner and then against your passenger for the following left-hander. It’s silly, but it’s fun. 

Out on the highway, the Inster isn’t out of its depth. It’s stable and relatively quiet at high speed, and the steering doesn’t require constant minute corrections to maintain the proper trajectory. Its tall greenhouse does make it prone to being blown around by the wind, but other than that, I didn’t notice any unpleasantness.

It’s definitely in its element more on slower country roads or in town, where its supple suspension and relaxed power delivery feel more at home. The best thing about it is that you can get really low average electricity consumption figures if you drive at 50 mph or less. You could even exceed 6 miles/kWh if you keep your speed and go pedal application sensible.

Shockingly Easy To Like

It might have started out as a combustion car redesigned to run on electrons, but it’s proof that an electric Hyundai doesn’t need 800 volts, a pretend engine with gears or 300 kW charging to be great. It looks quirky and a bit weird, but not in an unpleasant way. Its interior is surprisingly spacious and modular for a car of its size. It doesn’t charge very quickly, but it makes up for that with a good charging curve. Its road manners are excellent, too, no matter what you try to throw at it.

After driving it for an entire day, I got out of the Inster feeling surprisingly refreshed. It wasn’t a drive that sucked the life out of me, which I was frankly expecting it to, given that it was driven outside what I thought was its comfort zone. For €25,585 ($29,600) with all the options boxes ticked, it’s a strong deal, but when you factor in the various government incentive schemes still in place in Europe, it’s even more tempting.

Here in Romania, you could get €7,500 ($8,675) off an Inster like the one I tested as part of an incentive scheme to get you to scrap an old car, bringing the price to a very reasonable €18,085 ($20,900). You can get it for even less in other countries, and the incentive used to be €10,000 ($11,560) here before 2024. It is an electric mood-booster on wheels, and few electric cars can match its character.

Oh, and you can cross Europe in it, have some fun in the Alps, and then come back home with minimal range anxiety thanks to the continent’s vast network of DC fast chargers. And the EV experience is continually improving.

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